

NAVY, U. 8., OPERATIONS OF. 



671 



10 



Flag-officer Ingraham deemed it prudent to re- 

 tire, and at about 7J A. M. both rams took 

 refuge in the swash channel, and subsequently 

 anchored in shoal water near the shore, to the 

 eastward of Fort Moultrie. They remained 

 here until 5 p. M., attended by several small 

 steamers, and then disappeared behind Fort 

 Moultrie. One of them, while returning into 

 the harbor, had her pilot house carried away 

 by a shot from the Housatonic. During this 

 attack the Princess Royal, which was the 

 principal object of contest on both sides, lay 

 quietly at her anchorage. After the retreat 

 of the rams she got to sea, and arrived safely 

 at Port Royal. 



The raid had failed of its object, and beyond 

 the temporary disabling of two vessels of the 

 blockading squadron, no practical advantage 

 had been gained by the enemy. But as the 

 latter maintained telegraphic communication 

 with Richmond, and could send north their 

 own statements of the occurrence several days 

 in advance of despatches from the fleet, it was 

 determined to forestall the Union accounts, 

 and, if possible, induce foreign powers to be- 

 lieve that the fleet before Charleston had been 

 dispersed and the blockade raised. Accord- 

 ingly the Richmond papers of the 2d of Feb- 

 ruary published despatches from Charleston 

 announcing as the result of the naval engage- 

 ment of Jan. 31st, two U. S. vessels sunk, four 

 set on fire, and the remainder driven away. 

 The following "official proclamation" was also 

 given : 



HEADQUARTERS LAND AND NAVAL FORCES, ) 

 CHARLESTON, S. C., January 81s, 1863. ) 



At about five o'clock this morning the Confederate 

 States naval force on this station attacked the United 

 States blockading fleet off the harbor of the city of 

 Charleston, and sank, dispersed, and then drove out 

 of sight for a time the entire hostile fleet ; therefore 

 we, the undersigned commanders respectively of the 

 Confederate States naval and land forces in this quar- 

 ter, do hereby formally declare the blockade by the 

 United States of the said port of Charleston, S. C., to 

 be raised by a superior force of the Confederate States, 

 from and after this Slst day of January, A. D. 1863. 



[Signed] G. T. BEAUREGARD, Gen'l Com'g. 

 D. N. INGRAHAM, Flag-officer, 



Commanding Naval Forces. 



fficial] THOS. JORDAN, Chief of Staff. 



"Yesterday evening (Jan. 31st)," said an- 

 other despatch, " Beauregard placed a steamer 

 at the disposal of the foreign consuls to see for 

 themselves that no blockade existed. The 

 French and Spanish consuls, accompanied by 

 Gen. Ripley, accepted the invitation. The 

 British consul with the commander of the 

 British war steamer Petrel, had previously 

 gone five miles beyond the usual anchorage 

 of the blockaders, and could see nothing of 

 them with glasses. Late in the evening four 

 blockaders reappeared, but keeping far out. 

 This evening a larger number of blockaders are 

 in sight, but keep steam up, evidently ready to 

 run." And it was subsequently announced 

 that the consuls held a meeting on the night 

 after the above proclamation was issued, and 



decided unanimously that the blockade had 

 been legally raised. 



The publication of these despatches caused 

 considerable uneasiness at the North. It was 

 not doubted indeed that despatches from Ad- 

 miral Dupont would put an entirely different 

 face upon the matter, but apprehensions were 

 entertained in some quarters that statements 

 of this kind going abroad, uncontradicted by 

 other evidence, might be only too readily 

 seized upon by unfriendly powers as a pretext 

 for insisting that the blockade had been raised, 

 and that having been once raised, it could not 

 be declared renewed without formal notice 

 from the United States authorities. These 

 fears, however, proved groundless. Foreign 

 journals or governments declined to be influ- 

 enced by ex-parte statements, and despatches 

 from the blockading fleet showed that nothing 

 approaching a raising of the blockade had been 

 effected. 



For the purpose of fortifying his own state- 

 ments, Admiral Dupont subsequently sent an 

 official refutation of the Beauregard and In- 

 graham proclamation, and the rebel despatches, 

 dated Feb. 10th, and signed by nearly all the 

 commanding officers of vessels that were lying 

 off Charleston harbor on the morning of Jan. 

 31st. " We deem it our duty," they observe, 

 " to state that the so-called results are false in 

 every particular no vessels were sunk, none 

 were set on fire seriously. * * * So hasty 

 was the retreat of the rams that, although they 

 might have perceived that the Keystone State 

 had received serious damage, no attempt was 

 ever made to approach h'er. The Stettin and 

 Ottawa, at the extreme end of the line, did not 

 get under way from their position till after the 

 firing had ceased, and the Stettin merely saw 

 the black smoke as the rams disappeared over 

 the bar. The rams withdrew hastily toward 

 the harbor, and on their way were fired at by 

 the Housatonic and Augusta until both had 

 got beyond reach of their guns. They anchored 

 under the protection of their forts and remained 

 there. No vessel, iron-clad or other, passed 

 out over the bar after the return of the rams 

 in shore. The Unadilla was not aware of the 

 attack until the Housatonic commenced firing, 

 when she moved out toward that vessel from 

 her anchorage. The Housatonic was never 

 beyond the usual line of the blockade." They 

 also state that no vessel ran in or qut of the 

 port during the day, and that no attempt was 

 made to run the blockade, and conclude as fol- 

 lows : " We do not hesitate to state that no 

 vessel came out beyond the bar after the re- 

 turn of the rams, at between 7 and 8 A. M., to 

 the cover of the forts. We believe the state- 

 ment that any vessel came anywhere near the 

 usual anchorage of any of the blockaders, or 

 up to the bar, after the withdrawal of the rams, 

 to be deliberately and knowingly false. If the 

 statement from the papers, as now before us, 

 has the sanction of the captain of the Petrel 

 and the foreign consuls, we can only deplore 



